Grand jury to consider fatal car wreck case in July

A grand jury indictment for reckless homicide will be sought on July 21 against Andrew Shane Harper of Hardeeville in connection with a fatal car wreck on April 23 on Old Palmetto Bluff Road, the prosecution spokesman said Thursday.

The 14th Circuit Solicitor's Office had planned to present the case to the grand jury on Thursday at the Beaufort County Courthouse. However, "One of the primary officers who investigated the case had a family emergency and was unable to appear in front of the jury … (so) the case now will be presented on July 21," said Daniel Brownstein, communications director.

The proposed reckless homicide charge is a change from the two counts of felony DUI on which Bluffton Police arrested Harper on May 5. Harper, 22, of Honey Hill Road, was released on his own recognizance from the Beaufort County Detention Center the day of his arrest.

Harper was driving a red, 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt SS with three passengers when he lost control of the vehicle around 6:45 p.m. April 23. The car struck several trees and came to rest in a ditch in the wood-line off the roadway. A backseat passenger, Devin Roach, 21, of Wellington Drive in Ridgeland, died at the scene and a front-seat passenger, Robert Marshall, 25, of James O's Court, Bluffton, was seriously injured, police said.

Brownstein said the Harper case "will be presented as one reckless homicide charge because there was one fatality as a result of the wreck. Felony DUI can be charged even if a person is seriously injured, thus the two charges filed by the Bluffton Police Department, but in this case there wasn't sufficient evidence to prove Mr. Harper was intoxicated."

The change to reckless homicide was agreed to and supported by Bluffton Town Attorney Terry Finger after he and Police Chief David McAllister met with Solicitor Duffie Stone and the investigation was reviewed, according to a June 7 letter from Finger to Stone.

The meeting followed a May 10 letter from Stone to McAllister which said more evidence of intoxication was needed to pursue felony DUI charges. Stone wrote that Harper's blood alcohol content was 0.058, and, by state code, "if the blood alcohol content is more than 0.05 but less than 0.08, there is no inference that can be drawn as to whether or not the person was under the influence of alcohol."

The penalty for conviction of felony DUI resulting in great bodily injury is a fine of $5,100 to $10,100 and imprisonment up to 15 years. For felony DUI resulting in death, the penalty is a fine of $10,100 to $25,100 and a prison sentence of at least one year and no more than 25 years.

For reckless homicide, also a felony, the penalty is a fine of $1,000 to $5,000, or up to 10 years in prison, or both, and driver's license revocation for five years.